It's been a while
by notagoodplace4gods
Summary: It's been a while since Dick's been thrown into things at superspeed, so it's not really his fault that he's caught off guard this time.


A/N: I should really studying, but I'm writing fix it 'wally's back' fic because I have no self control.

Dick Grayson has been thrown into things at superspeed before. He has been thrown into things at superspeed a lot of times because his best friend just happened to be Wally West. And Wally never learned to control his speed as well as the Flash did. He wasn't fast enough to stop bullets/arrows/death thingies in mid air, so he just ran over to Dick and pushed him out of the way, full speed. Dick had gotten used to it, he never complained about the bruises he got from being shoved aside because Wally was doing the best he could; telling would only make him feel guilty and, while bro cuddles help to heal all kinds of bruises, guilt is something a lot more difficult to deal with. The possibility of it happening every time the team was on a mission made him more alert of his surroundings, made him far more careful because putting himself in danger meant putting Wally in danger as well, because Wally is brave and selfless and dumb and he would throw Dick out of the way and take the blow himself and Dick just couldn't have that.

But it's been a while since he's been thrown into things at superspeed. Sure, they have another speedster on young justice, they have Bart on the team now and the kid tries really hard to protect all of his friends, but it's not the same. Wally's not there anymore. Dick's not there anymore. It's been over two years since Dick quit the team, two years since the Artic, two years since Wally's not there anymore.

It's been two years and Dick forgets what it feels to have someone protecting his back, he forgets to be careful, he forgets how having someone run into him at superspeed and causing him to collide with a building _hurts._

"Dick!" He hears someone call out his name, but the voice's so far away, it sounds like it comes from a dream and he finds no reason to open his eyes. "Dick!" The voice is stubborn. "Answer me! Where are you?"

"I'm..." He begins to answer because the voice just won't shut up, but, when he opens his eyes to take a look at his surroundings, he sees _red_everywhere.

There's blood, but there's also red hair and red pants and red gloves and red googles and Dick stops.

"Dick, what happened?" Tim's still yelling in his ear, over the commlink. "How badly are you hurt? Your heartbeat is going crazy!" Dick, Tim and Babs made a deal after Dick left the young justice team and that was to use a Wayne tech Nightwing suit so they could monitor his vitals since he wasn't really talking to any of them and wasn't very good at asking for help, and Dick takes longer than he should to remember it.

Dick closes his eyes again and focus on Wally's body pressed against his own. He focus on Wally's hair on his neck and on Wally's breathing and on his heartbeat and on the fact that he's real. That he's back. Dick closes his eyes because maybe it's all just _another dream_and he can't risk waking up. Not again.

"If you don't answer me right now, I'll send Bruce over, don't test me, Dick." Tim insists and Dick opens his mouth to reply because maybe this is real, maybe this is all happening and Wally's alive, but he's hurt and he needs medical attention and Tim will only stop when he gets his answers. He opens his mouth to answer him, but no words come out, he just makes a faint, choked noise, instead. Maybe it's a sob, maybe it's a small laugh, maybe it's both or neither, he doesn't know. It's been a while since he laughed and it's been a while since he cried, so he's long forgotten the difference. He doesn't know and he doesn't care.

_Wally's alive_and everything else fades away to 'not important' land.

"Hang on, Dick, help's on the way."

"Okay." He forces himself to say it because he's more alert now and worrying his little brother is one of the least thing he wants to do, ever, but at the same time he isn't feeling particularly chatty so he drops his commlink on the floor after a faint "See you in ten, Timmy."

He looks at Wally. He looks at his unconscious best friend that ran him over and threw him into a building at superspeed, like he's done many times before, like he's going to do a lot more times in the future because he has zero control over his powers, because he's dumb and selfless and brave and amazing and _alive._

He laughs and then he cries and then he remembers that's what love feels like. It's been a while.


End file.
